Saturday, February 4, 2012

The heroic minute, immediately upon waking - the first battle of the day

A Carthusian monk, from the film "Into Great Silence"

5th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mark 1:29-39

Rising
very early before dawn, [Jesus] left and went off to a deserted place, where he
prayed.

After exorcising a demoniac, healing
St. Peter’s mother-in-law, and curing many others, Jesus teaches us the
absolute primacy of the interior life by rising early the next morning, before
it was day, so as to go to a deserted place and pray.

Fr. Conrelius a’ Lapide tells
us: “Learn here from Christ to give the early morning to prayer, and to rise up
with the dawn, so as to have leisure for meditation, and to give the
first-fruits of the day to God. For the dawn of day is a friend of the Muses,
but a greater friend of God and the angels.”

It
is better to pray in the morning

Together with all the spiritual
doctors before and after, St. Francis de Sales recommends that mental prayer
(including the Rosary) be done in the early morning [Introduction to the Devout
Life II,1]:

“Give an hour every day to meditation before dinner [i.e.
the noon meal];—if you can, let it be early in the morning, when your mind will
be less cumbered, and fresh after the night’s rest. Do not spend more than an
hour thus, unless specially advised to do so by your spiritual father.”

Further, the Doctor of the
Catholic Press writes:

“If it should happen that your morning goes by without the
usual meditation, either owing to a pressure of business, or from any other
cause, (which interruptions you should try to prevent as far as possible,) try
to repair the loss in the afternoon, but not immediately after a meal, or you
will perhaps be drowsy, which is bad both for your meditation and your health.
But if you are unable all day to make up for the omission, you must remedy it
as far as may be by ejaculatory prayer [e.g. “My Jesus, I love you.”], and by
reading some spiritual book, together with an act of penitence for the neglect,
together with a stedfast resolution to do better the next day.”

The
morning offering of St. Alphonsus

St. Alphonsus offers the
following prayer as an example of how every Christian should pray immediately
upon rising:

My God! I adore You, I love You
with my whole heart.

I thank You for all Your
benefits, especially for having preserved me during the past night.

I offer You all my actions and
sufferings of this day, in union with the actions of Jesus and Mary; and I make
the intention of gaining all the indulgences that I can gain.

I purpose, O Lord! to avoid offending
You this day.

[It
is good to make a resolution, particularly about the fault into which we fall
the most often.]

I beg You, for the love of
Jesus, to grant me the grace of perseverance.

I resolve to conform myself to
Your holy will, and particularly in those things that are contrary to my
inclination, saying always, O Lord I Your will be done. My Jesus, keep Your
hand over me this day. Most Holy Virgin Mary, take me beneath your mantle. And
do You, O Eternal Father, help me for the love of Jesus and Mary! O my angel
guardian and my holy patron saints, assist me.

[Say: Our
Father, Hail Mary, Creed; three Hail Marys: in honor of the purity of Mary.]

Notice that St. Alphonsus is speaking
in holy aspirations or ejaculatory prayers – quick and sweet acts of love, of
faith, of thanksgiving, of petition. Some (perhaps not all) will find that these
are much easier in the morning than a long memorized prayer, they are also more
effective in exciting the will to the love of God.

Further, the resolution to
avoid some particular vice: Every day we must either grow or decrease in
virtue. The soul is a living being and, like all things living, it cannot in
this life maintain perfect neutrality – every organism, including the
supernatural organism which is the soul, is either growing or dying. Thus,
first thing in the morning, we ready ourselves for the spiritual warfare of the
coming day, and we resolve to mortify (to put to death) that fault which is
most dangerous to our spiritual growth.

Finally, with distrust of self
but great confidence in God, St. Alphonsus tells us to be resigned to the
divine will. This is the key to holiness: Conformity, and even abandonment, to
divine providence. Whatever comes this day is given or at least permitted by
God for my spiritual benefit, if only I make good use of the occasions he
provides me! Most especially, any sufferings or humiliations which are assigned
by God for me in the coming day are the greatest means of my growth in holiness
– I must not seek to avoid them.

We pray to Mary, to the saints,
and to our guardian angel for protection and assistance. The Hail Mary, said three times in the
morning and at night, is the great means of overcoming lust and persevering in
chastity – every Christian should employ this powerful tool.

A
mortification in the morning

St. Josemaría Escrivá, the Father
and Founder of Opus Dei, tells us:

“The heroic minute. It is the time fixed for getting up.
Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and ... up! The heroic minute:
here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to
your body. If, with God’s help, you conquer yourself, you will be well ahead
for the rest of the day. It’s so discouraging to find oneself beaten at the
first skirmish.” (cf. The Way 206)

As the season of Lent is soon
approaching, perhaps we may consider incorporating this early mortification into
our discipline.

15
comments:

Brad
said...

May God bless you, Father!

About two years ago I heard a fellow layman mention that when he awakens, the first thing he does is kiss the ground beside his bed and say "serviam". He didn't relate this as advice per se, but it struck me as so very good in so many ways, symbolic and literal, and I glommed on to it. The demon loathes seeing us inferior creatures do acts of humility and love for God.

I have noticed extreme pressure from not only the demon but my own fallen nature to avoid morning prayers. Oh, the excuses. Oh, the lies whispered into my ear in the predawn dark! This surely reveals their merit.

The heroic minute. It is the time fixed for getting up. Without hesitation: a supernatural reflection and... up! The heroic minute: here you have a mortification that strengthens your will and does no harm to your body.

Joaquin

PS: Brad, that friend of yours would know well that quote I just wrote!

I recall when I first read this few words from St. Josemaría. They struck me like a lightning bolt. It was the first time—and I was no longer a child—that I had heard of mortification in a positive sense. In much of our modern spirituality, we have lost the sense of the traditional principle of “agree contra,” (“to act against”) wherein one deliberately confronts vice. There is this notion that has become very common that we can do nothing to fight against temptation. So many simply wonder when they will fall again, not realizing how many tools that they have at their disposal. This “heroic minute” is very effective. It trains the will, disposes the mind and prepares the day. Thanks for posting.

I grew up trained to say my morning and evening prayers even before I started kindergarten. My mother would say the prayers with my sister and I, and then we just started doing it on our own. Just sit up on the side of the bed, and do it. I don't recall how my mother did it, she just did and it just seemed natural to do. But somehow, once the babies came, I started losing the habit.I am 50 now, and can do it only with great help from heaven. But here's the trick -- ask help from your angel, saint, Mother Mary, the Lord himself the night before, to get you up the next day. Two words in this article strengthen my resolve: "heroic minute." I will do it. (I'll truly try.)

Very often, the heroic minute is accompanied by an act of mortification. For example, it would be customary to not only commit the moment to prayer, but to get out of bed quickly, kneel down at the side of the bed and pray.

Ouch! You got me again... It certainly is mortifying to have to get up quickly and on time to make my morning offering, but to do it for God and our good makes it sweet, at least after the fact. (Or after that first cup of coffee.) I like the reflection of one of St. Jean Vianney's priest-friends on the Saint's morning prayer. When asked, M. le Cure said, "I try to unite myself very closely with the Good God, and then I do the next thing." His friend commented, "From which I take that his life was one long prayer..." Thanks for the reminder, Abba!

There is nothing I would like better than to get up and devote the first hour or so of the day to prayer and meditation. However, I cannot. The feeding of animals await. I asked them if they could please wait another hour, but it made no difference. They want what they want...NOW.

I do what I can. When I awake during the night, which is more often than not, I immediately start praying. When I get up at six, or sometimes before, I always kneel, pray a few prayers, bless both myself and my still sleeping husband with Holy Water, ask Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother to go before us and bless our day, and then proceed to perform my before coffee tasks.

Some day soon, I hope, I will have the luxury of doing what I so long to do. In fact, if I had my way, and if a church opened 24/7 could be located (only in my dreams), I'd get up and dressed and head straight for a front row seat in front of Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament!

The heroic minute is a blessing but can seem like a burden to every mother (and fathers). Much like Veronica in an earlier message there is often work to do immediately - the babies need to be fed (along the the toddlers, the teens and husband off to work).

This doesn't mean I don't pray at all but realize I cannot give myself a lengthy time alone (the kids always find me!)

I console myself w/ the words of St. Paul who calls us to pray w/out ceasing so I offer a quick prayer offering my work as a prayer and head to the kitchen.

At some point, my children will be gone but until then, my prayers are usually said as I pour cereal - out loud so my kids can hear me and join in!

@Veronica and Rachel,I understand something of the demands of family life ... indeed, they are truly beyond what I can understand!

However, I must insist (together with the saints) that we have to take time for mental prayer -- every day!

Jesus had the duty of saving the whole world ... and he found time to rise early and pray ... even though his disciples searched for him!So too, the family man/woman must take time every day (hopefully in the morning) for reflective prayer and mediation.

I've been told that St. Teresa of Avila says that 20 minutes of mental prayer each day is necessary for salvation.St. Alphonsus says pretty much the same -- without mental prayer (i.e. reflective prayer on the mysteries of our Faith) there is scarcely any chance of salvation.

So, the Doctor of Prayer (Teresa) and the Doctor of Morals (Alphonsus) don't give much room for lee-way ... we all simply must find time for quiet, reflective, personal prayer each day ... 20 minutes seems to be the minimum (though, I think we can build up to that from 10 min in the beginning ... hopefully, we get to an hour at some point).

We have to be saints ... and that means heroic virtue.I know you can do it! :-)

@Veronica, thank you for your kind words and prayers ... I will be praying for you as well. +